Who says romance is dead?

This past summer I went to Bali, Indonesia to celebrate my 30th birthday. I went to this stunningly beautiful country with 3 of my dear friends.  We stayed in Semanyak and Ubud and explored the beach, islands, the rice terraces, temples and more.  Two days before we left it was time to relax and pamper ourselves. One of my friends set up massages for us in this hidden away gem in the middle of the bustling downtown Ubud area. A taxi dropped us off on the busy street and we found our way around a few corners to a secluded spa.  We have been lucky enough to get massages in the different countries that we visited over the past year so we were all looking forward it. This was by the far the must luxurious massage experience I’ve ever had.

We arrive, they serve us tea and we selected the types of massages we want. Two of us chose the green tea scrub, and two of us chose the mocha scrub, of course I chose the mocha because…coffee..duh. lol They split us into two rooms, two people in each.  The rooms were beautiful, two massage tables, a shower, a bathtub, little dressers for you to put your clothes and jewelry on, and a large window overlooking a rice field. It was so serene and beautiful, we were both in awe.

We had to get undressed, they give us stretchy black mesh underwear, robes, the whole nine.  The ladies that are giving us our massages come in, we lie down, and they go to town. I mean it was amazing, head to massage and body scrub.  My body is relaxed, my skin feels amazing and eventually the massage portion comes to an end.  I’m thinking to myself, man this was amazing and I’m also thinking, I am covered in coffee and some kind of cooling coconut milk cream, hmmm…

The masseuse has me sit up and points me over to the shower while Crystal is still getting her massage.  I don’t think anything of it. So I’m rinsing off all the coffee and coconut milk mixture that I’m covered in and then the other masseuse points Crystal over to the shower. I’m like my bad, girl, let me hurry up. The masseuse smiles and gestures to us,

“Go ahead, shower together”, she says.

Now, we have shared rooms, beds, bathrooms together before…we are pretty comfortable.  But this has become some next level shit.

The ladies again prompt us to wash off together and they are smiling, like, go ahead no worries. Then they step out to give us some privacy.

So I move over in the shower and try to hurry and finish, so Crystal isn’t standing shivering covered and coffee and coconut cream. lol We are both cracking up now because we have realized that the ladies think we are a couple.

I finished showering and the she directs me to a bath filled with rose petals. I get in and I’m like ‘this is some real fancy shit.  This is classy af, you are doing well in life Alee’…feeling like I am really winning. Crystal finishes showering going back and forth between freezing and scolding hot water and her lady directs her to the bathtub.  That’s when we both look at each other and come to the realization that this is happening. She gets in the bathtub and I tell her,

“Look, this is the most romantic experience I have ever had. You see it in movies and what not and now here I am. In Bali. In a tub full of rose petals with you, my presumed lesbian lover. Now quite how I imagined it, but I’m not mad it.”

At this point the ladies have left the room so we can have our privacy, of course to do what lovers  in rose petal filled bathtubs do. She agreed this was the most romantic situation she’s ever been in as well. Luckily we have a similar sense of humor so we went with it and were laughing the whole time.  We laid back and relaxed, strategically placed rose petals on ourselves to preserve our modesty of course.  We laughed and played in the rose petals, made different shapes, and coverings with the petals, because it was romantic. Luckily we neither of us take ourselves too seriously. We discussed how appreciative we were for the whole experience, and how we always imagined an experience like this would be with a boyfriend or husband. Clearly that’s not how it happened and that’s okay because maybe it will; but in the end we enjoyed each other’s company and the amazing massage.

After about 15 minutes or so there’s another knock on the door and the ladies ask if it is okay to come in and send us back to the shower to rinse the flowers of each other. We rinsed off in the shower, having mastered the hot and cold temperature settings and got dressed.  Even with the awkward situation it was such a beautiful experience, not the sharing a rose petal bath with your friend part, but the overall experience. The location, the decor, the massage and the rose petal bath. It was all so beautiful and romantic.

So my first romantic massage and the most romantic experience I’ve ever had was great practice for more to come in the future, maybe with my friend again or maybe with someone special. Life is short, live it while you can, with the people you love. Don’t deprive yourself of a wonderful experience because you haven’t fallen in love yet. Love comes to us in many forms; friends, family, or an intimate massage.  Don’t stop yourself from experiences waiting for Mr. or Mrs. Right to come along, because if you are like me and aren’t striking gold with dating in your late 20s/30s, then it might be awhile. You shouldn’t miss out on anything you want to do. Don’t put your life on hold waiting for the right one, seize the opportunities you have and embrace the good people that are already in your life.

Treat yo-self!